Scott Mezvinsky Sells 1,755 Shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total value of $261,161.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Scott Mezvinsky also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, November 5th, Scott Mezvinsky sold 273 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.27, for a total transaction of $42,115.71.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of Yum! Brands stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total transaction of $41,962.25.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.7%

YUM stock traded up $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $148.66. 145,118 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,086,791. The company has a market capitalization of $41.26 billion, a PE ratio of 29.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.19. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

YUM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Melius initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $166.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,557,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,120,747,000 after purchasing an additional 448,393 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,945,791,000 after buying an additional 297,641 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after acquiring an additional 40,757 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.